In the roller bearing art, it is commonplace that the inner ring, the set of rollers and the cage often form an integral structural unit to facilitate assembly and transport where the parts are formed in such a manner that they do not disassemble. Thus, the inner ring is provided with flanges and the cage serves to retain the rollers in the radial direction. When the rollers cannot be inserted radially from the outside into the pockets as is the case, for example, in an arrangement where the cage is located outside the pitch circle of the set of rollers, the structural unit can no longer be assembled. In this instance, the pockets are smaller than the longitudinal profile of the rollers. However, in spite of this structural configuration, it may be possible to insert the rollers over the flange of the inner ring provided the flange is the proper height so that the cage can yield at least at some appropriate point.
A cage meeting the above identified description which functions in the manner described is known from British Patent No. 1,604,570. In accordance with one of the embodiments shown in this British Patent, one of the lateral rings, is interrupted by slots in the area of every other pocket. The sections so formed can therefore be spread radially apart via the webs and consequently the set of roller can escape radially on the side of the cage in question when they are pushed over the flange of the inner ring. It has been observed, however, that a roller bearing assembled in this way is at considerable risk because of the lack of stability of the cage resulting from the slotted radial ring. This is particularly true for sheet metal cages made of relatively thin material or plastic cages wherein the webs yield in the outward radial direction under the load of the rollers and thus lose their separating function.